Bike Week 2009

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sun 7 Jun 2009 08:08
38:19.2N 26:18.0E

Friday 5th June
Not a breath of wind and sea that resembled a mirror meant a dull and hot
motor round to Cesme where we are picking up two friends, Mick and Dione who
are staying with us for a week.

Big first today as Sarah decided that it was time she had a go at 'parking'
Serafina and given no wind and an almost empty marina with lazy lines and an
attentive marinero ('sailors' is what they are called here) it was perfect
timing (well, Rob was prepared to struggle through the agony of watching
this time!). Of course she did a perfect job and astonishingly the Marina
manager rushed out of his office (portacabin) to offer his congratulations.
We assume that he has never witnessed a woman driver before!

The highlight of the afternoon was the arrival for 'Bike Week 2009' of the
Turkish Chapter of the Hell's Angels (The Hogs) on at least 50 to 60 Harleys
along with support vehicles and one enterprising chap even had his bike in
the back of his smart pick-up truck (no dust in his eyes!). They went on to
entertain us over the weekend as they clearly have a problem with sense of
direction and we kept seeing them in groups of 2 or 3 (or sometimes 20)
approaching the roundabout by the marina and then shooting off down
different roads, only to return and try again, or get out their mobile
phones!

Saturday 6th June
Frantic scrubbing and polishing etc. in readiness for our friends arrival.
In the event they were delayed at the coach station in Izmir as the bus only
had one spare seat and they had to wait an hour for the next one and arrived
after a very long day's travelling at 7.30pm. We had an entertaining wait
for them by the roadside watching the local traffic (and the odd group of
Hell's Angels!) deal with the twin inconveniences of a large roundabout and
multiple traffic lights. Highlight was a girl who cycled cheerfully round
the roundabout the wrong way, through the red lights and set off down the
dual carriageway the wrong way, all the while chatting on her mobile phone.
And nobody batted an eyelid!

Went out for a meal in town in the evening which was excellent, but we were
obviously a little late for them as the staff hovered around us clearing
plates at every opportunity.

Have now just seen our first newspapers for two months and are more than a
little surprised at the chaos back at home. All these years we have viewed
the governments of countries like Italy with an element of contempt for the
way they run things and it turns out that we have very little to be proud
of!